Monday, December 31, 2007

Around The World, (12)

In 1964, Fania Records was founded in New York City by Jerry Masucci, an Italian-American lawyer with a love for Latin melodies, and Johnny Pacheco, a talented composer and bandleader born in the Dominican Republic. Together, the men's originality and keenness for great tunes transformed Fania Records into the ultimate foundation for salsa, a contemporary style of Latin music.In 1968, with the record label garnering more acclaim and a troupe of emerging artists, Masucci and Pacheco decided to create an ensemble of the most well-known and innovative Fania artists, a continuously-revolving line-up of entertainers known as the Fania All-Stars.Especially during the 1970's, the star-studded group became renowned worldwide for their spectacular one-of-a-kind musical performances. Among the most treasured of these recordings is the legendary arrangement "Fania All Stars: Live At The Cheetah, Volumes 1 and 2." The set, exhibits the entire All-Star family performing before a capacity audience in New York's Cheetah Lounge. The volumes went on to become the biggest-selling Latin albums ever produced by one group from one concert. Following sell-out concerts in Puerto Rico, Chicago and Panama, the All-Stars embarked on their first appearance at New York's Yankee Stadium on August 24th, 1973. The stars performed before an unprecedented crowd of 63,000 spectators in a concert that highlighted the talents of Ray Barretto, Willie Colón, Larry Harlow, Johnny Pacheco, Roberto Roena, Bobby Valentín, and Jorge Santana (younger brother of Carlos Santana), among others.

In an attempt to attain a wider market for salsa, Fania made a deal with Columbia Records in the US for a series of crossover albums by the All Stars. The first project was the lukewarm "Delicate & Jumpy" (1976), in which Steve Winwood united with the All Stars' Pacheco, Valentin, Barreto and Roena. It was also in 1976 that the Fania All Stars made their sole UK appearance. In 1978 the All-Stars released "Live," a fully-blown version of the band recorded in concert at New York's Madison Square Garden in September of that year. 1979 saw the release of "Crossover," the All-Stars' last Columbia Records album, as well as "Havana Jam on Fania," which came from an historic concert recorded on March 3rd 1979 in Havana, Cuba.

The first signs of recession appeared in 1980, when Fania suffered setbacks including an unsuccessful movie, tension from artists with unpaid royalties, and failed distribution deals with Columbia and Atlantic Records at boosting salsa into the mainstream US market. In addition, the New York salsa scene, which had always been vital to the success of the label, was gradually succumbing to the rise of merengue from Dominican Republic and salsa romantica from Puerto Rico. As the decade ended, the All-Stars recorded fewer albums together, and it was pretty visible that the genre -- and the star-studded group that propelled it -- had reached the end of its golden age.